Pink Floyd founder cancels Poland shows after war remarks
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 20: Roger Waters performs onstage during his "This Is Not A Drill" tour at State Farm Arena on August 20, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish media reported Saturday.
An official with the Tauron Arena in Krakow, where Waters was scheduled to perform two concerts in April, said they would no longer take place.
"Roger Waters’ manager decided to withdraw ... without giving any reason," Lukasz Pytko from Tauron Arena Krakow said Saturday in comments carried by Polish media outlets.
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The website for Waters’ "This Is Not a Drill" concert tour did not list the Krakow concerns previously scheduled for Apr. 21 and 22.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial call-up of military reservists to bolster his forces in Ukraine, a move that sparked rare protests across the country and led to hundreds of arrests. The announcement sent Russians scampering for flights, sparked by fears that Russia's borders could close or that Putin could expand the call-up.
City councilors in Krakow were expected to vote next week on a proposal to name Waters as a persona non grata, expressing "indignation" over the musician’s stance on the war in Ukraine.
Waters wrote an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska early this month in which he blamed "extreme nationalists" in Ukraine for having "set your country on the path to this disastrous war." He also criticized the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons, blaming Washington in particular.
Waters has also criticized NATO, accusing it of provoking Russia.